Telegraphy.



W; M. BRUCE, JR-

TELEGRAPHY.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. 1914.

Patented July 13, 1915.

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W. M. BRUCE, JR.

TELEG'RAPHY.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZI, 1914.

Patented July 13, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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Suva whom W. M. BRUCE, JR.

TELEGRAPHY.

Patented July 13, 1915.

s SHEETS-SHEET 3.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZI, 1914.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAIH co.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

WILLIAM M. BRUCE, JR., OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOB, TO THE UNITED TEL-E GRAPH & CABLE COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, A (WRPORAT'ION OF OHIO.

TELEGRAPHY.

Application filed May 21, 1914.

T0 aZZ 10. 10772 it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. BRUCE, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telegraphy, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to telegraph systems and particularly to systems adapted for operating in connection with submarine cables or high capacity lines.

The invention relates more particularly to means for charging the cable or other conductor with a substantially uniform amount of current of different polarities at the same time securing different intervals in the making and breaking of the current and the corresponding charging and discharging of the conductor, in sending impulses of different lengths such as are employed in the ordinary Morse or similar system of signaling.

It has been found in practice that when positive and negative impulses are impressed upon a submarine cable or similar electrical conductor of high capacity through the instrumentality of an ordinary telegraph key operating direct or through the circuit of a local relay, these impulses will be reproduced at the other end and a receiving instrument will respond to such impulses if uniform and that such impulses may be transmitted and received with great rapidity when they are of uniform character such for instance as are used in making dots in the Morse system; when, however, such impulses are made at different intervals, (such as required for dots and dashes), even when reversals of negative and positive current are employed, the long interval, (such as a dash) charges the cable with a greater amount of current than the short interval (such as a dot), and if a series of long intervals follow one another the potential of the cable or conductor will be built up in one direction, (either positive or negative) so that it will not be entirely discharged between the impulses when such series of long intervals is followed by a short interval and this will cause the zero point of the cable (as indicated by a siphon recorder) to wander from side to side and when these intervals are impressed with great rapidity some of the shorter intervals may be lost entirely. I have forged, however, that by providing Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J uly 13, 1915..

Serial No. 839,959.

means for introducing the same quantity of current Whether positive or negative at each impulse or key operation this difliculty'will be obviated and an equal amount of current of each polarity will be impressed upon the cable at each interval and the zero will remain constant and along or shortinterval words, for determining the time during which the cable will be charged, such controlling device being operated by the impulses of current which are impressed into the conductor or cable but so arranged and v adjusted that the time during which the current is supplied to the conductor or cable is automatically determined and such time of current supply is made uniform whether the impulse impressed on the cable-is a long or a short one; that is to say, in practical operation the sending device such as an ordinary telegraph key starts the current supply into the conductor, but the current may continue to flow into the conductor after the key has broken the circuit or the current supply may be cut-off from the conductor before the key has broken the circuit. In this way the characters, although of different lengths impress a uniform amount of current on the cable, (either positive or negative) at each operation of the key or sending device. In order to accomplish this practically I arrange the interval of time during which the cable shall be charged for each character at say 75% of the interval required to make the shortest character, (a dot for instance) and when a longer impulse such as a dash is used the current will be allowed to flow for the same length of time so there can be no greater amount of current for a long interval than for ashort one and consequently the rise of potential in the conductor will be'equal for each character.

I preferably arrange the controlling or cut-off device for the current in a circuit across the hue so that is receives the same potentlal as the cable or conductor. With this arrangement, the amountef current fed to the cable for each character will be uniform although the frequency of the reversals may be changed.

A simple method of accomplishing these results is shown in the accompanying drawings which may be taken as illustrative only (as the particular circuits and apparatus therein described may be variously modified), and in which- Figure 1 is a diagram view and Figs. 2 and 3 similar views showing modifications. Fig. 4 is a view showing some of the features eliminated.

at is an ordinary telegraph key, having contacts 0. and a which are connected to the opposite poles of battery 13. The contact a being connected to the negative pole of the battery by wires 1, 2 and 3 and the contact a connected to the positive side of the battery by wires 4 5 and 6. In the first of these circuits is included a relay 5 and in the second a relay 6 as these relays, however, have nothing to do with the first part of the invention they will be omitted from consideration for the present and they may be entirely dispensed With (see Fig. 4t). The key a is connected by wire 7 to a polarized relay 0 and thence to ground at g. This key is further preferably connected direct to the cable or conductor through wire 8 (see Fig 1), variable resistance 1, and Wire 9 to the apeX 10 of the duplex arrangement of the conductor or cable It.

The armature c of a polarized transmitting relay 0 is connected by wire 11 to wire 9 and to the apex of the duplexing arrange ment and to the cable a and its contacts and c are connected by Wires 12 and 13 to the wires 3 and 6, leading to the opposite poles of the battery so that if the pole of the battery opposite to the one connected to the particular contact 0 or 0 is grounded when the relay 0 operates an impulse of current corresponding to that polarity will be impressed on the cable and this may also take place through variable resistance r, if this connection is employed, when the key engages either of the contacts a or a if the opposite pole of the battery is grounded.

In order to insure the proper grounding of the battery and also to measure the time at which the current from each impulse is to be impressed upon the cable I provide a con trolling device 6 which consists in its simplest form of a polarized relay whose armature 6 moves from one contact 6 to another ,6 as said relay is operated and these contacts e and e are connected to the opposite poles of the battery by wires 1a and 1.5 which connect to wires 3 and 6 respectively leading from said battery poles. The armature e of this controlling device is permanently grounded at g and in the position indicated in the drawings this grounds the negative side of the battery. The key a. is also angaged with the contact a which is connected to the negative side of the battery so also the armature 0 of the polarized relay 0 is engaging the contact 0 which is connected to the negative pole of the battery and in this position no current is flowing. If now in this position the key a be depressed so as to engage contact a which is connected to the opposite side of the battery, current will flow from ground g through armature 0, contact 0, wires it and 3, battery B, wires 6, 5, l to contact a thence through key a, wire 7, polarized relay 0 to ground at g. This operates the polarized relay and causes its armature 0 to engage the contact 0 which is connected to the opposite pole of the battery by wires 13 and 6 as before described and sends a positive current impulse into the cable through wires 11 and 9 to the apex of the duplexing at 10. A part of the current flowing from battery to the key may pass direct to the cable or conductor by wire 8 and variable resistance 7 While relay C is operating. T his is not essential but in some cases it may be desirable as it puts current into the cable immediately upon the depression of the key without waiting for the relay c to operate.

It will be noted that the controlling device 6 is in a circuit which will receive the same current impulses as are fed to the cable which circuit may be traced from wire 9, by wire 16, (resistance 1" and wire 17 if employed) to the relay 6 and by wire 18 through variable inductive resistance 1 to ground at 7* so that at each key movement the controlling device will be operated but at an interval of time after the relay 0 has operated depending upon relay adjustments and the amount of inductive resistance r in the circuit. This time interval may be properly determined by the amount of inductive resistance in the circuit or any other well known means. As soon as this interval has elapsed (and as before stated it will be less thanthat of a fast Morse dot) the armature 0 is shifted from contact 6 to contact e and the flow of current to the cable is cut-off without reference to further movement of the key and ground is shifted from the negative pole of the battery to the opposite pole so that when the key is moved to its other contact a a negative impulse will be passed through the polarized relay 0 and thus to the cable which negative impulse will operate the cut-off or controlling device a at the same pie-determined interval and thus impress upon the cable a current of opposite polarity and of exactly the same duration as the positive current.

The receiving apparatus at the opposite end of the cable is adapted to operate a sounder or other receiving instrument (preferably through the aid of a polarized relay) which requires a complete reversal of cur rent to make a character (a. dot or a dash) and such receiving device will operate uniformly inasmuch as the cable will be supplied with an equal amoimt of current of opposite polarities for each character it will be charged to the same eXtent at each reversal and thus prevent a wandering zero such as will occur when a larger quantity of current of one polarity is followed by a small quantity current of opposite polarity. It will be noted that the time during which the key is held in either position has nothing to do with the time during which the current is being supplied to the cable but it does determine the length of time between polarity reversals and thus determines the length of the interval in the operation of the receiving instrument to produce a short or long character such as a dot or dash.

This apparatus, as above described, has been found to be capable of Operatingsatis factorily under fast telegraph speeds and I will cause the receiving device to respond to the characters of the sending device without reference to the way in which said characters are sent, that is whether a long or short or a series of long followed by a single short or otherwise, when the time interval of the controlling device is determined by inductive resistance in its circuit as shown the frequency of the current reversals affects the action of the inductive resistance so that when telegraphing at very high-speed the increase in current reversals may change the time interval of the controlling device so as to effect the potential for such speed. This can be regulated more or less by changing the adjustments in the controlling. device and in the inductive resistance in circuit therewith but I have found it wholly practical to automatically regulate the operation of the cut-off device by changing the potential of the current operating the same as the frequencies in the sending reversals change. There are many ways in which this may be done. I have shown a very simple method which is found to be practical in which resistance r, which is normally in circuit with the controlling device 6, is automatically cutout when the speed reaches a certain point and this is accomplished by the relays b and Z2 which are in the positive and negative circuits leading to the key contacts as before described. These relays and Z) are slow or sluggishly operating relays and in ordinary sending speeds they will be operated by each make and break of the current reversals. As the frequencies of these reversals increase these relays will be held energized and each of their armatures will be held against their contacts which will close a circuit for a relay (Z which, when energized, closes a shunt 19 aroundthe resistance r and thus gives a higher potential for operating the controlling. device a: The circuit for operating the relay (Z may be traced from the key a through wire 18 to the circuit breaking armature 12'', wire 20, armature 5 wire 21, relay (Z and ground at g So soon as the speed of the sending decrea-sesso that the relays b or oreither of them are de-- energized the circuit of relay d will be broken and said relay denergized and shunt 19 will be opened and the resistance r included in the circuit of the controlling device e and thus reduce its potential. It will be understood that the speed of the sending must be sufficient so that the frequency of the reversals will keep both of the'relays b and Z) energized before the relay 0? will be energized and close the shunt.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a modification in the means of securing the proper potential as the speed of the sending is increased. In this case the potential for the controlling device is not only increased but the potential supplied to the conductor or cable is increased and this is accomplished by provid ing resistance r normally in circuit with the battery B and means for automatically decreasing this resistance as the sending speed increases. This is accomplished by having a series of outlets from the resistance r which are connected to different terminals t, t, t and 25 which are of different lengths and may be made to contact successfully with mercury in a cup orreceptacle m in a shunt circuit. I have shownntheseterminals adapted to be operated by asolenoid s which is connected with wire 9 to ground through wire 22. In the condition of normal send ing the resistance is in circuit with the battery. As the speed increases the rapidity of the impulses will act upon the solenoid s and cause it to move proportionately with the speed of the impulse which will immerse the terminals t, 25 etc. successively in the mercury and thus cut out the resistance suc cessively until the full potential of the battery without the resistance is placed in circuit.

In Fig. 3 I have shown another method of accomplishing the result in which the solenoid s is adapted to successively cutout the impedience in the inductive resistance device 1, the terminals 25, t, t and t bei connected to different-outlets in the inductive resistance coil, the operation of the solenoid being substantially the same as above described. It will be seen from the above description that I have provided a system by which the current fed to the conductor byany key operation is equal to the current fed to the conductor by any other key operation. In other words, each key operationfeeds current to the cable or conductor for exactly the same length of time and thus produces exactly the same rise of potential and this is accomplished by the use 'ofa. singlebattery so that when current reversals are employed, the potential of one polarity would be eX- actly equal to the other polarity. It will be noted also that the transmitting relay which is operated by the key to feed the current to the conductor also supplies current to operate the controlling device and the controllingdevice in turn supplies the current to the transmitting relay so that the transmitting relay remains operated until the controlling device permits it to move in the opposite direction regardless of the movements of the key, so that fast or slow or erratic movements of the key can result only in impressing a uniform rise of potential for each polarity and thus insures a constant cable zero.

While I have shown this system in connection with a receiving device which responds only to a true reversal for each character, the same system may be applied to a device which uses a reversal for every alternate character.

lVhile I have shown in each of the figures of the drawing means for automatically governing the cut-off device in case very high speeds should, by reason of the method employed for determining the interval in the operation of this cut-oil device, prevent its giving the proper charge and rise of potential at such high speeds, I wish it understood that this feature is not necessary except at the excessive speeds, (that is those above 400 words a minute over cable of 3.5 K R) at lower speeds the connection shown in Fig. t may be employed successfully and with other means of determining the time interval of the controlling or cutoff device, such automatic controlling may not be necessary at all at any speed, the purpose being to obtain as nearly as possible the same rise in potential for each successive impulse no matter what the speed or length of character.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim: 1. In telegraphy, the method of sending different characters in a telegraph code over conductors of high resistance which consists, first in impressing upon the conductor a current of one polarity at the twinning of a character and following it with a current of opposite polarity at the end of the character, and second, in automatically cutting off the supply of current of each polarity after the lapse of a uniform predetermined interval by the current impulses of either polarity impressed upon the conductor.

2. In telegraphy, the method of sending different characters in a telegraph code over conductors of high resistance which consists, first in impressing upon the conductor a current of one polarity at the beginning of a character and following it with a current of difierent polarity at'the end of the char acter, second, in automatically cutting ofi the supply of current of each polarity after the lapse of a uniform pre-determined interval, and third in cutting off the current supply which operates to control the conductor supply at the same time the conductor supply is cut ofi.

3. In telegraphy, the method of securing and maintaining a pre-determined equal rise in potential and current within a cable or conductor for each successive impulse impressed thereon which consists, first, in impressing upon the conductor a current of one polarity at the beginning of a character, and second, in automatically cutting oli" the current supply to the conductor by the said impulse at a pre-determined interval after the said impulse has been impressed upon the said conductor, and third, in reversing the battery connection to secure a succeeding impulse of different polarity at the end of the character, the current supply for which is automatically cut-ofi" in the same manner and at the predetermined interval.

l. In telegraphy, the method of securing and maintaining a pre-determined equal rise in potential and current within a conductor for each successive impulse impressed thereon which consists, first, in automatically cutting off the current supply to the conductor for each impulse at a pre-determined interval after said impulse has been impressed thereon, second, in cutting ofl the current supply which operates tocontrol the conductor supply at the same time the conductor supply is cut OE, and third, reversing the battery connection to secure a succeeding impulse of different polarity.

2. .ln telegraphy, the method of controlling the rise in potential and current for each successive impulse impressed upon a conductor which consists first in automatically cutting olt the current supply to the conductor for each impulse, by the said impulse. at a predetermined interval after the same has been impressed upon the conductor but independent of the impressing action, and second at the same pre-determined interval to cut off the current which operates to cut-off the conductor supply.

6. In telegraphy, the method of controlling the rise in potential in. the cable or conductor, which consists, first, in impressing on a polarized transmitter a current of a given polarity which in turn impresses upon a conductor and upon a polarized controll .r a current of a given polarity, second, in cutting off the current supply to the conductor. and third, at the same time cutting off the supply of current to the controller so that the time of" charging the conductor and the controller is equal and independent of the sending action.

7. In telegraphy, the method of sending difierent characters in a telegraph code over conductors of high resistance which consists, first, in impressing upon a polarized transmitter current of opposite polarity at the beginning and end of the character Which transmitter impresses currents of opposite polarity at the beginning and end of the character on the conductor and on a controlling device, second, in cutting off the current supply for the conductor by the current impulses impressed on the controller, and third, cutting oif the supply of current for the controller at the same time that the current supply for the conductor is cut off so that the time of charging the conductor and controller are equal and independent of the sending action.

8. In telegraphy, the method of controlling the rise in potential in a cable or conductor which consists, first, in impressing upon a polarized transmitter a current of a given polarity which in turn impresses upon a conductor and upon a polarized controller current of given polarity, second, in cutting off the current supply to the conductor and to the controller by the impulse impressed on the controller, and, third, at the same time cutting off the supply of current to the transmitter so that the time of charging the conductor and controller is equal and independent of the sending action.

9. In telegraphy, the method of controlling the rise of potential in a conductor from a single battery which consists, first, in successively connecting the opposite poles of'said battery to a conductor for a pre-determined time interval, and second, by the impulse thus secured from each pole of said battery cutting ofl the current supply for said conductor and also for the cutting off operation independent of the sending or impressing action.

10. In telegraphy, the method of controling the rise in potential in a conductor from a single battery which consists, first, in successively connecting the opposite poles of the battery to a polarized transmitter Which impresses an impulse of a given polarity upon a conductor and upon a polarized controller, and, second, by the impulses operating through said controller to cut-off the supply of current to said conductor and to the controller at a pre-determined and uniform time interval after the transmitter op crates, and, third, in reversing the battery connection to obtain a succeeding impulse of opposite polarity upon the conductor.

11. In telegraphy, the method of sending different characters corresponding to dots or dashes in telegraph codes which consists, first, in impressing upon the conductor a current of a given polarity at the beginning of the character and a current of different polarity at the end of the character, second, in automatically cutting off the supply of said current after the lapse of a pre-determined interval, and, third, in automatically controlling the cutting off operation as the frequency of the current reversals is changed.

12. In telegraphy, the method of controlling the rise of potential in a conductor which consists, first, in impressing thereon a current of given polarity at the beginning of a character and a current of different polarity at the end of the character, second, by said current impulse automatically cutting off the current supply to said conductor after the lapse of a pre-determined interval, and, third, in automatically varying said cutting off operation to compensate for any drop in potential in the current supplied to the conductor due to higher frequency of the current reversals.

13. In telegraphy, the method of controlling the rise in potential in a conductor Which consists in first impressing upon the conductor an impulse of given polarity following this With an impulse of different polarity in the same battery, second, by the said current impulse of either polarity automatically cutting ofl the supply of current after a lapse of a pre-determined interval, and, third, in changing the current potential for efi'ecting the cutting off of said impulses as the frequency of the current reversals is changed.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of May 1914.

WILLIAM M. BRUCE, JR. Witnesses:

CHAS. I. WELOH, ESTHER E. PFEIFER.

C'opies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, D. G. 

